February 08, 2013

Dallas Cowboys owner, president and general manager Jerry Jones says in evaluating the 2012 season, "I saw things about our head coach that really give me a lot of promise for not only 2013 but for years to come. I'm excited about Jason Garrett."

Jones was interviewed by Mickey Spagnola on the Cowboys' team website (www.dallascowboys.com). The owner's ringing endorsement of Garrett comes after a series of position coaching changes that Jones seemed to be orchestrating and appeared to many, after three assistants with Tampa Bay backgrounds were hired, as a prelude to bringing Jon Gruden in as head coach.

The season evaluation "did entail quite a position staff change," Jones said. "And rest assured that Jason Garrett, our head coach, made those changes. He basically said, 'Here's the kind of coaches I want.' He did the evaluations ... and said, Jerry, here's who I want to get."

Jones wants Cowboys fans to know that in revamping the coaching staff "we're not just making these changes to have a new face out here. "

Because some of the assistants' contracts were not at the expiration stage, "All of that ended up, frankly, being pretty expensive," Jones said.

As for the changes on defense, Jones "relied on Jason's comfort level with those changes."

Jones does give the caveat that, "Now I'm obligated to have other ways to see how that melds with our personnel."

In a previous website interview, Garrett noted that his last year as a player in the NFL, 2004, was spent partly with the Buccaneers, where he became quite impressed with the work of new Cowboys defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, new defensive line coach Rod Marinelli and new special teams coordinator Rich Bisacci.